Brown Patrick and Fredrichsen Patricia 2006, Jell-O and Detergents a Successful Inquiry Recipe, The Science Teacher Pg 30-33 Summary The article was about an inquiry assignment, which some teachers developed to start the biology semester with a bang.The project was called next step to inquiry and involved a serious of inquiry-based lessons, which allowed the students to be the scientist finding out what an enzyme is instead of being told.The unit starts with a standard lab on the effect of detergent on Jell-O.The first lab however is just an introduction to the concept from this the students do a lab using Jell-O with different detergents in Petri dishes to learn about variables and constants.Once the students have finished these labs, they are asked what they think the next experiment should be.Students form questions and experiments to answer them they are given some of the constants.The next stain should be something that will regularly end up on clothing.The test media will be a 100% cotton tee-shirt.The students then run their experiments using any other variables they choose (such as hot or cold water) and formulate a formal lab report to show their results.The article talks about having students bridge the subjects doing the graphing and statistics in their algebra classes as an option.Once the students are finished they need to formulate a research synapses to be presented to their classmates and parents.
Reaction I thought that this was an excellent example of what a great unit looks like.The work is student centered, the lessons have been tested and perfected over, and the work is engaging.I have read a lot about inquiry based classrooms this unit really demonstrates how they look when they are done correctly. I believe that every new teacher should read this article because it shows what a couple of second teachers can do to create a lesson students will remember for the rest of their lives.
Summary
The article was about an inquiry assignment, which some teachers developed to start the biology semester with a bang. The project was called next step to inquiry and involved a serious of inquiry-based lessons, which allowed the students to be the scientist finding out what an enzyme is instead of being told. The unit starts with a standard lab on the effect of detergent on Jell-O. The first lab however is just an introduction to the concept from this the students do a lab using Jell-O with different detergents in Petri dishes to learn about variables and constants. Once the students have finished these labs, they are asked what they think the next experiment should be. Students form questions and experiments to answer them they are given some of the constants. The next stain should be something that will regularly end up on clothing. The test media will be a 100% cotton tee-shirt. The students then run their experiments using any other variables they choose (such as hot or cold water) and formulate a formal lab report to show their results. The article talks about having students bridge the subjects doing the graphing and statistics in their algebra classes as an option. Once the students are finished they need to formulate a research synapses to be presented to their classmates and parents.
Reaction
I thought that this was an excellent example of what a great unit looks like. The work is student centered, the lessons have been tested and perfected over, and the work is engaging. I have read a lot about inquiry based classrooms this unit really demonstrates how they look when they are done correctly. I believe that every new teacher should read this article because it shows what a couple of second teachers can do to create a lesson students will remember for the rest of their lives.
Article Review by Ryan Feeney
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